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023: Current News for Kids – 09

Sep 01, 2020

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Hi again! In this week’s news Episode, we’ll be hearing about stories from the past 2 weeks. I’ve covered a bit about Covid-19 to start with and spoke about how California saw a lot of fires while Louisiana was hit by deadly Hurricane Laura. I then explain how microplastics are affecting the Atlantic and Green house affect is affecting the Arctic. Why would you have Chocolate snow? Well, its possible if you like in a town with a huge chocolate factory in it…. Just listen to know more… and Oh! Japan tests its first flying car successfully! Isn’t that exciting? I also announce my competition for this month! Please do listen and take part in it. Thanks, Siyona

Transcripts

EPISODE 23: CURRENT NEWS FOR KIDS-09

[0.01] {Background Music}

[0.08] Siyona: Hello everyone! Welcome to the fortnightly news episode on my podcast, Little Mind Chats. Minds are Little, not our thoughts. I’m your host Siyona.

[0.19] , it looks like the number of cases are still rising in Asia and Latin America. With India and Brazil Playing a major role in increasing the numbers. Unfortunately, Europe is seeing a second rise in cases resulting in a few Countries re-imposing lockdown in worst affected areas.

[0.47] Moving on to some environmental news. We could soon have an ice-free Arctic. If the most recent research is right, our earth may have ice free Arctic in the next fifteen years. In summers they say! scientists are very concerned about this because what happens in the Arctic affects the entire earth.

[1.13]

[1.19] Like a refrigerator, ice cover in the Arctic is responsible for the Earth’s climate. It influences weather patterns and ocean’s circulations globally. As more ice melts, the pace of Global warming increases and the climate system balance faces big risk.

[1.42] Again, scientists believe this is directly related to human activity contributing to Global warming. I really wish we grow up to reverse all this and bring back the much-needed balance on earth.

[1.59]

[2.03] Fires caused by lightening is a common feature in California. But this year, it recorded the second and third largest blazes ever.

[2.14] Thunderstorms are created by A summer heat wave Which was worsened by climate change, combined with tropical moisture and storm energy. Resulting in lightning strikes. These Lightning strikes, hit the region causing numerous fires in the recent past.

[2.34] Its heavy winds and Strong rains have resulted in a LOT of damage which meant that some residents will not have power for weeks, if not months. Laura is the strongest Hurricane to strike the state in 150 years.

[3.05]

[3.09] Atlantic Has 10 Times More Plastic Than Scientists Previously Thought

[3.16] While most of us are busy using and discarding plastic day in and out, there are some very intelligent scientists sweating it out to track how much of the plastic we throw actually enters into the oceans heavily affecting the aquatic life.

[3.34] Recent studies suggest that there is 10 times more plastic in the Atlantic Ocean than they previously thought. Scientists got their results by collecting samples of ‘Microplastics’ below the ocean’s surface.

[3.51] But what are micro plastics?

[3.54] Microplastics are tiny bits of plastic, often too small to be seen. Plastic doesn’t “decompose” like natural materials (such as wood). Instead, it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.

[4.10] Have you been to any beach and seen dirty plastic bags or bottles of fizz lying around? Scientists believe that the plastic found on the beaches of the world are just 1% of all the plastics in the Oceans. Can you imagine that?

[4.29]

[4.38] The town of Olten, Switzerland found itself having cocoa powder falling from the sky on 20th August. What? Raining chocolate? How lucky!

[4.51] The problem turned out to be the ventilation system at the Lindt & Sprüngli chocolate factory. The company said there was a problem with the air flow in the area of the factory where they roast crushed cocoa beans. As a result, cocoa powder was blown out of the factory and spread by strong winds. The result left areas of the town coated with a light covering of cocoa powder.

[5.18]

[5.25] It felt unbelievable and exciting both at the same time to read this news.

[5.38] Last Tuesday, a Japanese company called SkyDrive demonstrated its new flying car, the SD-03. The small car flew around for four minutes, staying about 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) off the ground.

[5.56] This is very exciting because there are more than 100 projects running around the world for flying cars alone.

[6.05]

[6.09] Like Ex-president of India, Dr Pranab Mukherjee passed away a few days ago. My respects to him.

[6.19] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Quit on 28th due to health reasons.

[6.27] Also, an interesting technology called Deep fake detection tool was unveiled by Microsoft. It could be used to detect fake videos and content. Make sure you take your parent’s help to understand all this better.

[6.45] Before we could end this episode, are you curious to know about the next month’s competition? Yes… I’m so looking forward to this. As we are in our Space season, our competition is regarding Space movies! Just identify your most favourite movie related to space and tell me why you like it! You could send it to me in written format, recorded voice message or even a video! By 24th September the Thursday to, siyona@littlemindchats.com. The excitement is already building up! Follow me on Instagram account, Facebook page or even twitter. Please don’t forget to share it with your friends.

[7.36] I really hope you enjoyed listening to this episode. Thanks a ton for listening! Bye.